advantages of library classification

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Library classification

A library classification is a system of coding and organizing library materials (books, serials, audiovisual materials, computer files, maps, manuscripts, realia) according to their subject and allocating a call number to that information resource. Similar to classification systems used in biology, bibliographic classification systems group entities together that are similar, typically arranged in a hierarchical tree structure. A different kind of classification system, called a faceted classification system, is also widely used which allows the assignment of multiple classifications to an object, enabling the classifications to be ordered in multiple ways.

Description

Library classification forms part of the field of library and information science. It is a form of bibliographic classification (library classifications are used in library catalogs, while "bibliographic classification" also covers classification used in other kinds of bibliographic databases). It goes hand in hand with library (descriptive) cataloging under the rubric of cataloging and classification, sometimes grouped together as technical services. The library professional who engages in the process of cataloging and classifying library materials is called a cataloguer or catalog librarian. Library classification systems are one of the two tools used to facilitate subject access. The other consists of alphabetical indexing languages such as Thesauri and Subject Headings systems.

Library classification of a piece of work consists of two steps. Firstly the "aboutness" of the material is ascertained. Next, a call number (essentially a book's address), based on the classification system in use at the particular library will be assigned to the work using the notation of the system.

It is important to note that unlike subject heading or thesauri where multiple terms can be assigned to the same work, in library classification systems, each work can only be placed in one class. This is due to shelving purposes: A book can have only one physical place. However in classified catalogs one may have main entries as well as added entries. Most classification systems like the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Library of Congress classification also add a cutter number to each work which adds a code for the author of the work.

Classification systems in libraries generally play two roles. Firstly they facilitate subject access by allowing the user to find out what works or documents the library has on a certain subject. Secondly, they provide a known location for the information source to be located (e.g. where it is shelved).

Until the 19th century, most libraries had closed stacks, so the library classification only served to organize the subject catalog. In the 20th century, libraries opened their stacks to the public and started to shelve the library material itself according to some library classification to simplify subject browsing.

Some classification systems are more suitable for aiding subject access, rather than for shelf location. For example, UDC which uses a complicated notation including plus, colons are more difficult to use for the purpose of shelf arrangement but are more expressive compared to DDC in terms of showing relationships between subjects. Similarly faceted classification schemes are more difficult to use for shelf arrangement, unless the user has knowledge of the citation order.

Depending on the size of the library collection, some libraries might use classification systems solely for one purpose or the other. In extreme cases a public library with a small collection might just use a classification system for location of resources but might not use a complicated subject classification system. Instead all resources might just be put into a couple of wide classes (Travel, Crime, Magazines etc.). This is known as a "mark and park" classification method, more formally called reader interest classification.

Types

There are many standard system of library classification in use, and many more have been proposed over the years. However in general, Classification systems can be divided into three types depending on how they are used.

There are few completely enumerative systems or faceted systems, most systems are a blend but favouring one type or the other. The most common classification systems, LCC and DDC, are essentially enumerative, though with som

Dewey Decimal Classification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Besides its frequent revision, DDC's main advantage over its chief American rival, the Library of Congress Classification system developed shortly afterward ...

Online Computer Library Center

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worldâ€™s information and reducing information costs". It was incorporated on July 6, 1967 as the not-for-profit Ohio College Library Center. More than 27,000 libraries in 86 countries and territories use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. The organization was founded by Fred Kilgour, and its head office is located in Dublin, Ohio, U.S.

Services

OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCatâ€”the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC) in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. The Open WorldCat program makes records of library-owned materials in OCLC's WorldCat database available to Web users on popular Internet search, bibliographic, and bookselling sites. In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record.

Until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the [http://www.oclc.org/preservation/default.htm OCLC Preservation Service Center], with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Online database

OCLC has a database for cataloging and searching purposes which is used by librarians and the public. The current computer program, Connexion, was introduced in 2001, and its predecessor, OCLC Passport, was phased out in May 2005.

This database contains records in MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) format contributed by library catalogers worldwide who use OCLC as a cataloging tool. These MARC format records are then downloaded into the libraries' local catalog systems. This allows libraries to find and download records for materials to add to their local catalog without the lengthy process of cataloging each individually.

As of February 2007, their database contained over 1.1 billion cataloged items. It is the world's largest bibliographic database. Connexion is available to professional librarians as a computer program or on the web at [http://connexion.oclc.org/ connexion.oclc.org].

WorldCat is available to the public for searching a web-based service called [http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/ FirstSearch], as well as through the [http://www.worldcat.org/ Open WorldCat] program.

The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988.

[http://www.oclc.org/questionpoint/default.htm QuestionPoint] reference management service provides libraries with tools to communicate with users. This around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries.

Regional service providers

Regional service providers contract with OCLC to provide support and training for OCLC services. This chart represents only OCLC services.

Company acquisitions

OCLC acquired NetLibrary, the largest electronic content provider, in 2002 and sold it in 2010 to EBSCO Industries. OCLC owns 100% of the shares of OCLC PICA, a library automation systems and services company which has its headquarters in Leiden in the Netherlands and which was renamed "OCLC" at the end of 2007. In June 2006, the Research Libraries Group (RLG) merged into OCLC. On January 11, 2008, OCLC announced that it had purchased EZproxy. It has also acquired OAIster. The process started in January 2009 and from 31 October 2009, OAIster records are freely available via WorldCat.org.

From Yahoo Answers

Question:BTEC biological science
Can you think of benefits from classification to gardeners and zoologist and others.

Answers:IN BIOLOGY,THE SYSTEMIC CATEGORIZATION OF ORGANISM INTO A COHERENT SCHEME OF KNOWN PLANTS AND ANIMALS INTO CATEGORIES THAT COULD BE NAMED,REMEMBERED AND DISCUSSED.MODERN CLASSIFICATION ALSO ATTEMPTS TO SHOW THE EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIP AMONG ORGANISM.A SYSTEM BASED ON CATEGORIES THAT SHOW SUCH RELATIONSHIPS IS CALLED A NATURAL SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION;ONE BASED ON CATEGORIES ASSIGNED ONLY FOR CONVENIENCE IS A ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM.MODERN CLASSIFICATION IS PART OF THE BROADER SCIENCE OF TAXONOMY,THE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS OF ORGANISMS,WHICH INCLUDES COLLECTION,PRESERVATION AND STUDY OF SPECIMEN AND ANALYSIS OF DATA PROVIDED BY VARIOUS AREAS OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH.NOMENCLATURE IS THE ASSIGNING OF NAMES TO ORGANISMS AND TO THE CATEGORIES IN WHICH THEY ARE CLASSIFIED.A MODERN BRANCH OF TAXONOMY,USES COMPUTERS TO COMPARE VERY LARGE NUMBERS OF TRAITS WITHOUT WEIGHTING ANY TYPE OF TRAITS-IN CONTRAST TO THE TRADITIONAL VIEW THAT CERTAIN CHARACTERISTIC ARE MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN OTHERS IN SHOWING RELATIONSHIP. FOR EXAMPLES,THE STRUCTURE OF FLOWER PARTS IS CONSIDERED MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN THE SHAPE OF THE LEAVES IN FLOWERING PLANTS BECAUSE LEAF SHAPE APPEAR TO EVOLVE MUCH MORE QUICKLY. MUCH OF THE SCIENCE OF TAXONOMY HAS BEEN CONCERNED WITH JUDGING WHICH TRAITS ARE MOST SIGNIFICANT. IF NEW EVIDENCE REVEALS A BETTER BASIS FOR SUBDIVIDING A TEXON THAN THAT PREVIOUSLY USED,THE CLASSIFICATION CHANGES AS WELL AS INSIGHT IN RECENT YEARS HAVE BEEN THE RESULT OF COMPARISONS OF NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCES OF ORGANISMS.

Question:Help? Help with these two questions too please.
Compare and contrast the terms genotype and phenotype. Describe at least two ways that they are alike and two ways that they are different?
Describe how organisms are classified?

Answers:Genotype is what alleles a person has for a particular trait, phenotype is which allele he expresses.
For example: a person inherits the brown-eye allele from his mother and a green-eye allele from his father.
This would be his genotype: Bb (you use the letter of the dominant allele)
This would be his phenotype: Brown eyes (because brown eyes are dominant over green eyes)
Organisms are classified based on many things. Some of these are nutrition, anatomical features, and modes of transportation.
Classifying organisms helps us to group similar organisms together, allowing people see which organisms most likely arose from a more recent common ancestor.

Question:Like when an individual wants to take books out, the librarian scans it, what's the advantage to this? and like how does the whole system of a book scanner work?
input->process->output???
Precise and detailed explanation is needed thanks! (:

Answers:Probably the thing the Librarian scans is a barcode or a security tag.. This is linked electronically to the catalogue of the Library's collections, so if a Librarian wants to know where the book is - say someone wants to recall it, or it should have been returned and is very late, the system will show who has the book on loan, when it went out and how much is due in fines.
When the loan is returned, the scanning will then cancel the loan so that the book will be noted as being ready to be loaned again.
Librarians can check the loan records to see if a book has been out lots of times, and maybe they should buy some more copies - or - if it has never been borrowed and should be thrown away or sold.
Scanning of a barcode or tag when the book is going out will prevent the security gates from setting off an alarm, which would suggest an item was being stolen. Similarly, the security can be re-set when the book is scanned back in again after the loan is returned

Question:Not animal kingdoms, just objects in general. I know they make it easier to understand stuff, but how so?
Please explain.

Answers:You focus on similarities...
You get an idea of population sizes...
Consider this - your room is a mess. So, you sort all the stuff out.
You find 70% is clothes of which 80% is tops and 15% is slacks and 5% is undies...
Maybe you should change your undies more often...
Of the 30% non-clothes: 50% is eating stuff, 10% is magazines, 10% are electronic gizmos and the remaining 30% is trash and garbage that should have been thrown out.
Cleaning up after you eat and putting your clothes in a hamper would solve much of the mess in your room...